In a yarn feeding device of a weft knitting machine, a guide rail slidably having a plurality of yarn feeders is arranged on a needle bed, and a yarn feeder selected from the plurality of yarn feeders by entraining means is entrained with a sliding drive mechanism, so that a yarn is fed into a knitting needle from a feeding port of the yarn feeder so as to form a knitting fabric.
In general, a yarn feeder slidably provided in a spinning rail has better yarn-feeding conditions, with its yarn-feeding port being positioned at a lower position as close as possible to the knitting needle.
However, when a plurality of yarn feeders are provided in one spinning rail, or a plurality of spinning rails, each having a yarn feeder, are provided, if the spinning rails are to be positioned in the vicinity of a mouth clearance for improving the yarn feeding conditions, the yarn-feeding ports are concentrated in excess so as to be possibly damaged due to interference with each other.
Then, during yarn feeding, operatively in association with that a yarn feeder selected from the plurality of yarn feeders by the entraining means is entrained with the sliding drive mechanism, the feeding port is pushed in the lower feeding position by pushing-in means. There is a structure in that when the entrainment by the entraining means is cancelled, operatively in association with the cancellation, the pushing by the pushing-in means is cancelled so as to raise the yarn-feeding port to a withdrawal position so as not to be damaged by interference with each other (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-61606, for example).
As described above, when the formation is completed so that the entraining means stops the entrainment of the yarn feeder, operatively in association with the stoppage of the entrainment, the yarn-feeding port is raised from a yarn feed position to the withdrawal position.
In such a manner, in a state that a hook of a knitting needle is not completely closed, if the yarn-feeding port is raised higher to the withdrawal position, a knitting yarn gripped to the hook of the knitting needle may come off, or in a member closing the hook, a compound needle, for example, the knitting yarn may stick the slider.
The present invention has been proposed in view of the problems mentioned above, and it is an object thereof to allow a knitting yarn to be securely gripped by a hook of a knitting needle by lowering a yarn-feeding port as low as possible so as to improve yarn feeding conditions during yarn feeding for forming a knitting fabric.